This time of year pastors see a lot of resources and how-to guides on putting together an annual preaching calendar.
One question you might be asking before downloading the 2017 calendar
template or using our complete 2017 sermon calendars is, “How does this
actually help me?”
Developing or downloading a sermon calendar has many benefits for you
and your church so listed below are a few of our favorites to show you.
Before reading
make sure you download the free 2017 Ministry Pass Sermon Calendar Template HERE or on the image above.
1. Will Help you preach better
It sounds cliche, but preaching from a sermon calendar is going to
help you add more thought, prayer and character to your sermons. Imagine
knowing you will be preaching about forgiveness in three months instead
of three days. Every time you read in the news or in a blog a story
about forgiveness you can add that to your series in three months.
The point is, the longer you have to let your sermon series marinate,
the more flavor they will have. Every experience until then is
something else added to the recipe. Your sermon will be a fine steak and
not a sliver of fried spam.
You don’t get this benefit writing your sermons week to week.
2. Makes it easier to add people to your preaching team
The cognitive and leadership skills needed to be a local pastor are
taxing to anyone. Having others on your preaching team will not only be a
great relief for you, but it also allows other people to step up and
lead.
Letting the people on your preaching team know what they will speak
about ahead of time will give them the same benefits as you reference in
point #1. A lot of pastors tell me it’s hard to give up the pulpit
because they don’t want the quality to suffer. Getting others involved
ahead of time will ensure everyone has ample time to prepare.
3. Avoid preaching on the same topics.
One time I was working with a local pastor on his sermon calendar. We were mapping out the rest of the year for his church.
We started looking at all the series the church had done in the
previous two years and we noticed he had done four series on David. They
all had different topics but twice a year the church had been hearing
about David & Goliath in some form or another.
He hadn’t realized this beforehand. We all love the story of David
& Goliath but two series a year is overkill. He loved the story of
David (don’t we all) so naturally thats what he gravitated towards
without realizing it.
4. Helps you and your team move toward the same goal
A sermon calendar helps you in many areas but it also is a tremendous
benefit to the people on your team. If your worship leader knows ahead
of time what topics and passages you will be speaking on, they can
create a setlist that compliment the topics covered that day. If you are
preaching on grace, they can plan on adding a few songs about grace in
the set.
Knowing ahead of time also allows people to do sermon research for
you. You can give your volunteers the passages and topics discussed and
they can find videos, stories and illustrations that may add some more
color to sermon and series.
5. Lowers anxiety and stress
I recently spoke with one pastor who is bi-vocational. He owns an IT
business. He is putting his daughters through college, so he works late
every night during the week. He begins his sermon prep on Saturday
morning and finishes sometime late Saturday night. Sometimes, he works
well into the Sunday morning hours. He said sermon preparation stresses
him out.
Does preaching stress you out? Do you feel like you can never get
ahead? Are you able to take a break and allow others to preach for you,
knowing it will be good? Are you still studying for your sermon on
Saturdays and giving up precious time with your family?
6. Gives you Structured Freedom
When trying to win over pastors to an annual sermon prep model, I
often hear the complaint, “Planning a year out feels too restrictive and
limits my freedom in sermon choices.” I have found the opposite to be
true. Putting some loose constraints on my sermon topics focuses my
creativity and saves me from endless topic hunting. Use the time saved
to be with your disciples. Instead of scouring the Internet to find
topics your people will find interesting, pick topics your people need
to hear about, and find ways to make those topics interesting.
When you know what you will be preaching six months out, you can
read, write, and collaborate more effectively to produce refined sermons
that connect with your congregation.
7. Build Momentum throughout the entire year
Most churches experience a momentum and attendance bump early in the
fall and the lead up to Easter. There are steep declines post Easter
heading into the summer. A sermon calendar can help you be strategic
with your series in the summer so you don’t lose all the momentum and
growth from Easter.
The team at
Ministry Pass fills
the summer months with attractional series to help you connect with new
people in the community. We have seen churches grow in the summer when
most churches see a decline.
8. Provides a yearly Roadmap for Your Church
Church calendars are always filled with events, groups to go to and
activities. Sometimes they are a great thing. Sometimes it’s just
another thing on the calendar because that’s what we have always done.
A sermon calendar gives you an opportunity to plan events and
activities in alignment with your series. This helps all of your
energies as a church work together in every season. There is nothing
worse than spending a ton of budget on an event that really doesn’t
serve as a bridge to your church.
9. Eliminates last minute sermon writing
Pastors spend more time in sermon preparation every week than the
average adult spends time eating their meals. A sermon calendar helps
you avoid having to write everything at the last minute. Yes you still
have to write your sermon out the week of, but you are much more ahead
in the process because of your sermon calendar.
Writing your sermon at the last minute really benefits no one. Your
sermon is rushed, is harder to deliver with efficiency and you may have
lost spending time with your family on a Saturday because you had to
cram for Sunday.
10. Gives room for creativity to blossom
A common thought we learned growing up is, we need to think outside
the box in order to be more creative. The opposite is true. Everyone and
every church has box. This box represents your boundaries. Your church
boundaries could be in the area of budget, volunteers and staff. A
sermon calendar serves as a sort of box as well.
The beautiful thing about your box is, once you identify it, you know
how to fill it. Having a planned out preaching calendar is incredibly
empowering for everyone involved in the creative process. Knowing whats
coming next allows people to flourish in the creative gifts God has
given them.
My friends at Ministry Pass have created a few free resources that will help you get started in your sermon planning. You can download their free 2017 sermon calendar template HERE or on the image below.
